Apple has lost an Australian High Court bid to stop Samsung selling its Galaxy Tablet PC in Australia.

The Full Bench of the High Court of Australia has ruled in Samsung’s favor, saying the argument from Apple’s lawyers had insufficient prospect of success.

Last month, the Australian Federal Court reversed a prior ruling that banned the sale of the Samsung Galaxy S 10.1 Tablet PC in Australia. The Court noted that a prior ruling granting Apples requested ban on the product had not properly weighed the strength of Apples case.

Apple was today seeking special leave to appeal a previous decision of the same court, if granted it would have been unlikely that the Samsung Galaxy Tablet PC would ever have seen the insides of a retail store in Australia.

Today’s High Court ruling agreed with Samsung and the judges denied Apples special leave was “denied with costs” Read the full article »»»»

We missed out on the Cretaceous Period, got our start in the Devonian Period, woke up to ourselves in the Pliocene and have been running straight toward the Litigious Period. As megaliths and behemoths battle it out over who owns what patent, and which gadget belongs to who, the consumer is likely to be the victim in what looks to be a long and fierce battle. There seems to be the distinct possibility that more products will be blocked from sale. Samsung says its mammoth tit-for-tat patent battle with Apple could have been avoided if the latter wasn’t so trigger happy, as the Korean giant’s attempt to ban sales of Apple’s iPhone 4S in Australia gets set for a full court hearing in March 2012.

In the Federal Court in Sydney this week, it was decided that the patent infringement case would go to an early full hearing in March and in return Samsung would pause its attempt to temporarily ban the device between now and then. In an amusing turnaround – Apple has consistently argued it wants litigation NOW, and has repeatedly stated it wants this hearing to go ahead immediately – In this latest case, Apple has argued that it could not be ready for such an early final hearing. In what seemed like a replay of arguments in the Samsung vs Apple Galaxy Tab case, Apple, which wanted to ban the Samsung tablet from sale due to patent infringement, was seeking an early final hearing, while Samsung was arguing it could not be ready in time. This time the shoe was on the other foot. Read the full article »»»»

UPDATED: 28 September, 2011, Samsung – while stuck in the midst of litigation with Apple Inc – has announced an agreement to cross-license their patent portfolios with that old behemoth that is Microsoft!

“Through the cross-licensing of our respective patent portfolios, Samsung and Microsoft can continue to bring the latest innovations to the mobile industry” said Samsung’s Hong Won-Pyo

Microsoft has said the deal with the South Korean electronics titan provides “broad coverage for each company’s products.”

The Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said it will receive royalties for Samsung’s mobile phones and tablets running the Android mobile platform from Google :: Read the full article »»»»

We missed out on the Cretaceous Period, got our start in the Devonian Period, woke up to ourselves in the Pliocene and have been running straight toward the Litigious Period. As megaliths and behemoths battle it out over who owns what patent, and which gadget belongs to who, the consumer is likely to be the victim in what looks like warming to be a long and fierce battle. There seems to be the distinct possibility that more products would be blocked from sale, after Apple yet again blocked Samsung from selling its Galaxy. Read the full article »»»»